THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. How Your Donation Process Impacts Your Workflow (and How To Fix It)

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Amberlynn Palmer
5 years ago
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1 THE, THE AND THE How Your Donation Process Impacts Your Workflow (and How To Fix It)

/ It s great to be popular. Your company is getting a ton of donation requests from worthy charities, and you re doing what you can to keep up with demand.

results. Not every company has perfected the art of the donation management process, but we re here to tell you that it s a worthwhile endeavor once you ve got the workflow down.

2 / It s great to be popular. Your company is getting a ton of donation requests from worthy charities, and you re doing what you can to keep up with demand. However, it s easy for this process to fall off the rails as well donation management can be a tricky thing, and it s hard to juggle responding to requests, sending the donations, and tracking the results. Not every company has perfected the art of the donation management process, but we re here to tell you that it s a worthwhile endeavor once you ve got the workflow down. Don t be discouraged there is a way to make sure your company is helping out the community in the best way possible! In this ebook, we ll outline each aspect of the donation lifecycle from receiving the request to tracking the donation and the ways we have seen companies succeed (the good) or fail (the bad) with it. We ve even tossed a few tips to help you along. Let s get to it! 1 Receiving Donation Requests. Did you know that hotels receive roughly 400 donation requests per year? And that sports teams average triple that amount? With sheer volume in mind, companies need to have a centralized way to collect donation inquiries. Having an online form on your website that captures all of the important request details. Fax, snail mail, , and people dropping by your office. You might encourage a visit, but it can be hard to capture pertinent info on the spot. Fielding requests by way of homing pigeon. It doesn t get uglier than that! 2

TIP: Make sure your donation request form is easy to find on your website, and easier to fill out! The last thing you d want is for a charity to feel frustrated by the requesting process.

3 TIP: Make sure your donation request form is easy to find on your website, and easier to fill out! The last thing you d want is for a charity to feel frustrated by the requesting process. 2 Acknowledging Donation Request Receipt. The next step after you receive the request is to acknowledge that you ve seen it and processed it. The number one gripe nonprofit organizations have is not receiving a reply from corporations regarding their request for support. Remember how you treat a charity directly reflects on your brand. Send automatic thank-you when a request is submitted. Calling, writing or faxing a requester to let them know your company received the request. Keep an online paper trail! No acknowledgment at all. None. Zip. Zilch. You probably threw that solicitation letter away. TIP: Establish a member of your team that s responsible for receiving incoming donation requests, and make sure that they track them and keep everyone updated on who s asking for donations. 3

Using standardized and personalized email templates. Taking time to copy and paste responses. Using a typewriter. Let the homing pigeon lug that archaic beast away.

4 3 Responding to Requests. This part is often the most time-consuming step of the process. Most companies want to give a personal touch with each approval or denial response, but there is no way to do this efficiently starting from scratch every time. Using standardized and personalized templates. Taking time to copy and paste responses. Using a typewriter. Let the homing pigeon lug that archaic beast away. TIP: Have a number of form thank-you s ready to go. You could even tailor them to different markets of charities that ask for donations everyone likes to feel personally appreciated! 4 Sending the Donation. In today s non-profit world, charities are used to getting digital certificates for nonphysical items. Depending on the donation, sometimes shipping physical items to the recipient is unavoidable. Stop shipping or mailing your donations if you can! Use shipping labels or an electronic certificate to send via . Hand writing and printing a paper certificate to send through the mail. Personal delivery by horse and buggy. Clip, clop. Click, clop. 4

TIP: Keep a master spreadsheet that tracks all of your shipping and tracking numbers so you can easily recall where specific donations are heading. 5 Reporting/Tracking Donations.

5 TIP: Keep a master spreadsheet that tracks all of your shipping and tracking numbers so you can easily recall where specific donations are heading. 5 Reporting/Tracking Donations. That being said, Excel spreadsheets only tell you part of your community impact story. You, like many, don t have the time to extrapolate the most impactful data. Automatic reports can show you the good work you never knew you were doing for your community. Real-time charitable giving reports and data, with no data entry required. Manually updating an Excel spreadsheet. Wallpapering your office with your donation paperwork. TIP: Find yourself some quality software that helps you see the big picture around all the great help your company is providing we happen to be quite partial to ApproveForGood, ourselves! 5

6 FrontStream is the leading provider of intelligent engagement tools for corporations! Let us help you master the donation request process! On average, a company who receives 500 donations saves 100 hours of work per year using our platform. Here s how: Processing No more s, faxes, phone calls or letters! Moving your entire request process online through branded forms will eliminate manual work. Personalization Customize the program in a way that is valuable to your company. Automatically filter requests that don t fit your criteria and respond using your own templates. Delight Deepen your relationship with your community with a guaranteed timely response for every inquiry. Don t leave anyone in the dark and boost your brand s image regardless of saying yes or no. Reporting Custom reports and real time data enable you to use requester information to your benefit. Make charitable requests work harder for your company while supporting your community. Are you ready to make the donation request process as smooth and easy as possible? Talk to us to learn how ApproveForGood s solutions can reduce your donation request headaches and help you help your community approveforgood@frontstream.com 6

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